Interview with Erin Carere
Erin Carere is a singer, actress, and writer in Los Angeles. She just booked a part in an experimental film project written and directed by THE maestro director, Francis Ford Coppola! We have conducted an interview with Erin.
From acting to writing to being a Classical-pop crossover, which is your favorite way of expression and why?
Oh, goodness! People have been asking me these sorts of questions for a while, but I really consider myself a renaissance woman. You know, I mean, I bet no one ever asked Leonardo DaVinci if he preferred painting to anatomy to inventing to being a chef- as he was all of those! I may not be Leonardo DaVinci but I AM a woman who gets involved with 100% passion in whatever project I am focused on- even when that may be two or three at a time! So for me, I love acting, writing, and singing all so much and while it would be FUN in FANTASY to be “just” a classical-pop crossover singer, I keep finding that through writing and acting singing is inspired, and vice versa. Think of Barbra Streisand. She was a singer/ singer-actress first, but she also turned out to be an AMAZING writer and director as well. I want to tell stories, I want to perform, I want to be of service to LOVE through my art(s!)
I am very excited to get to work with Francis Ford Coppola, which I will do this July. I was just cast as a principal performer in his newest project, but during the audition process, I sang opera for him many times. So I have already had the chance to learn from a master, as well as act AND sing in the same moment. Sometimes I forget that there is a difference, because, even as an actor, often you are improvising, and in effect, writing your own small part into the project. So, even as a singer, even in CLASSICAL music- you aren’t rewriting the notes or the lyrics, but the emotions, the power, the vibrations, the audience… it’s all new and individual every single time you are singing. So you get to be, in a small but important way, actor/ singer/ writer all at once.
What do you consider your strengths/talents are in performing? How did you discover them?
I discovered I had a HUGE voice practically before I could speak. I was always singing, always playing piano, always telling stories. In fact, I wrote my first short story in first grade, and my first play in second grade, about the time I started acting as well. I have always done all three. (Remember, Shakespeare wasn’t just a playwright, he was an actor, too!) Now, certainly I am not comparing myself to Shakespeare in terms of brilliance and renown, but I AM in love with the idea that we remain OPEN to who we are as artists and pursue mastery in those areas.
My strengths- well, I would say I have tenacity, passion, love, I never give up, and I believe in the beauty and power of story-telling and art.
What had been the most memorable about your starring in a one-woman comedic cabaret?
I’ve actually done TWO different one-woman shows. The first, called “The One,” was about my love life, which I discovered on accident (the show, not the love life! HAHA!) I would tell people my love life and dating stories and while I thought they were quite tragic, people would just start laughing and laughing. After some time had passed, I could laugh, too, because comedy is borne out of pain. THAT show became like a sort of therapy and a deconstruction of the way I approached love. I had a laugh WITH the audience by the end. The second show was called “StandUpera,” and it was a similar set up, but this time about my life as a singer. That was a glorious experience bcause I got to incorporate acting, storytelling, comedy, cabaret, drama, tragedy, and opera!
Before playing a character, what kind of research do you do, for example as Cynthia Lennon (John Lennon's first wife) in a brand new rock musical about John Lennon and Yoko Ono?
As much as I possibly can! I read everything I can get my hands on. I take notes. I dress up as that character (when possible) and go out into the world and respond and behave as them just to see what they might do in different situations. I observe the feelings and thoughts and see how that might affect my behavior, then, on stage or on camera or in an audition in accordance to the script itself. For Cynthia, for example, I dressed like her a LOT. That was fun. I watched a lot of interviews, and then I listened to her album, read her poems, and read her book SHE wrote. She passed away recently and it felt really heartbreaking to me, because even though I didn’t know her PERSONALLY, I felt like I had received an opportunity to get to know her by walking in her shoes. I felt like I was saying goodbye to a dear friend.
Please tell us more about the top 3 favorite characters you have played/written so far as a screenwriter, playwright, author, comedienne, blogger, poet.
Well, like most artists, I am MOST excited about the project I am working on and the project that is NEXT. I have written a digital/ web series sitcom for me and my partner in life and love, Carlo Carere. It is based on who we are as people, me an opera singer, he a Captain of the Italian Carabinieri turned actor, author and screenwriter. My character is just fabulous. She’s sort of this dual personality opera singing spy. She’s inspired by me, but also by the greatest Muppet of all time, Miss Piggy.
I also am VERY excited to be part of the Coppola project. He’s such a master and he treats his actors with so much respect. During the callbacks he spends a lot of time with all of us actors, and he tells stories. He told us that he realized that value of rehearsal time during the shooting of The Godfather, and that “actors don’t become characters, the characters BECOME the actors.” That was such a profound thing to hear, as an actor, because it is like you are sharing souls with a character, and intermingling all the life and learning and loving all together.
Thinking back to characters from my performing history, I think my favorites are usually the wild ones, the fiery ones. I get cast a lot to play the kind of woman who has had to BECOME strong and fiery because she was victimized and grew strong because of it. But I love playing the “Carmens” of the world, the intense passionate ones, because I get to borrow their energy in real life. :)
I would LOVE to play roles, oh, the kind of roles played by say, Kim Cattrall, Sharon Stone, Robin Wright in “House of Cards.” I just love those strong, sexy women, and I look up to them!
More info:
IMDB: www.imdb.com/name/nm1827548
YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/user/erinthepisces
VIDEO GALLERY ON THIS WEBSITE: http://www.erincarere.com/videos.html
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ErinCarere
FACEBOOK: http://www.Facebook.com/ErinCarerePerformer
